Georgette Tan

Category: projects

  • The November 2023 Review

    The November 2023 Review

    There’s not a lot to report for this month as I had been consumed by Nanowrimo.

    Book template courtesy of Canva.
    NaNoWriMo 2023: Dreaming of Water (Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Erotic, Romance)

    Nanowrimo

    When August saved Lydia from a reoccurring nightmare, he was only curious. The Dreamwalker was pushing the boundary of his newfound powers after learning that he could control some part of the dreaming – his and others.

    But the source of Lydia’s nightmare would not tolerate outside interference. Even as they grew to look forward to their dreamtime dalliances, August’s meddling had only complicated Lydia’s predicament and made him question his morality.

    When dreamtime fantasies and the real world collide, August realises that the stakes are very real, and the outcome is going to be fatal for one of them.

    …or at least that was the plan. When you’re pantsing it, things rarely work out the way you thought, but that’s part of the fun.

    Do I enjoy writing a novel as a full time job? Yes and no. I did indeed had the flexibility to do nothing but write a book for one month solid, but it’s because I’m between work projects. Add in the expected sprinkling of “what the heck am I doing” and “this isn’t making any sense” and the standard amount of self-loathing.

    Dreaming of Water is based on the two short stories I wrote during Stories on Fire, which in turn was based on a collaborative Storium game/story (DOL) with a friend. This story predates DOL, featuring a Dreamwalker that had a significant cameo in one chapter. I didn’t know where I was going with it. I just wanted to explore his story. It’s hard to figure out what genre this falls under – The Dreamlands can be anything you want it to be, and I happen lean more into medieval fantasy.

    I completed Nanowrimo with 50,031 words, but the story is not done. I’m not sure if I will continue or if I’m going to start breaking it down and resequencing the entire narrative. I’ve already written down the ending in bullet points but the journey there has become muddied. There are things that I wanted to happen after other things, but because I was out of ideas, it ended up where it ended up.

    I guess I’ll give it a couple of months. Apparently January is Stories on Fire month again, and I may give it another shot.

    Gaming

    Nothing new to report other than my house is coming along. I spent most of November doing the bare minimum, which is to farm on my plot and sell produce, with the occasional run outside to mine, forage and hunt. Decorating has been subject to inspiration. For example, I had no idea how to populate this trophy room until I was inspired to turn it into a study. This view shows off the desk the best, but the background is still a work in progress.

    Coming Next

    • With Nanowrimo out of the way, I have more time to forus on tarot reading. If you want to get one, you can order it here. If you are an IRL contact, you can opt for an in-person reading. Just get in touch with me to make arrangements.
    • December will hopefully see me editing some of the short stories I wrote in September and looking into submitting them somewhere, even it’s it’s just AO3.
    • I also plan on making another crack at moving the stuff and things out of my room and get them donated or set aside for the next preloved market.

    Links Roundup

    A no-commentary list of articles and media I found interesting enough to share on my Discord server.

    Fediverse Reactions

  • Why I’d think twice about personalising my belongings in the future

    This is a satchel bag I used for work when I still worked a full-time job. It has been hanging on the coat rack for over two years because I’ve gotten a new (free) computer backpack since. There’s no place I’d go as a freelancer that requires me to use a formal bag anymore, especially in the past year when most of us worked from home.

    Also, one of the fasteners have fallen off and disappeared, but it’s nothing a good DIY or repair person can’t fix.

    It was on the way out to the thrift shop when I lifted it and came eyelevel with this:

    The company I got this from has a personalisation service if you paid a little extra and I decided to treat myself. I went with one of my nicknames, the one that’s a bit of an inside joke and the name of my food Instagram account. There’s something inherently satisfying to put my name on something I bought with my own hard-earned cash.

    But here’s the punchline: upon seeing that name in faded gold, I changed my mind about donating it away to a thrift shop … at least for now. How strange it is that personalising something elevated it from sundry to sentimental.

    Marking my “territory”

    I’ve put my name on my other belongings before. I have a batch of stickers specially printed up to stick in the books I own, just in case anyone borrowed them and forgot they were not the owner – something that happened far too often! But I am no longer emotionally attached to each and every book I buy and make it a point to sell or pass along books that I’ve already read no matter how much I liked it.

    I know, I know. It’s heresy to book collectors, and please note that I specifically said “collectors” because there is a difference between them and readers. Not everybody who buys a book will get around to reading it. Not every reader will necessarily have to buy their next read. When you buy more than you actually read, the books stack up. But that is a blog post for another day, or perhaps I’ve already written about this … I don’t know. I haven’t been here in a while.

    Marking something as yours might have stemmed from the classroom or from sharing the space with siblings. If your name isn’t on it, anyone can claim it.

    But back to the bag.

    It’s still sitting in my living room after I changed my mind. I wanted some time to process why I was hesitant about getting rid of it although it served its purpose and I no longer need it.

    I like a good bag. I used to spend weeks or years looking for the perfect one and have no hesitation in dropping some good working-class cash when I find it. My very last purchase was an overnight doctor’s bag that I bought in New Zealand, which ended up too big for daily use but was perfect for a short trip.

    For years without fail, I’d get compliments for whatever bag I happen to be carrying. I could go into what criteria I look for in the perfect bag, but I’m no longer living a lifestyle that requires my EDC to be large enough to hold everything I might need while I’m outside the domicile. My bags are all hanging somewhere in the house collecting dust because I don’t go out anymore.

    The bags currently in circulation, plus a basket full of other smaller bags and purses.

    De-owning is hard to do

    Decluttering is an ongoing process. I love those reality TV shows about decluttering or minimalism, and many of them emphasise that it is a continuous process, that the work continues after the camera crew has left your house.

    In the universe of Marie Kondo, my bag went from the clothing category (which should be the easiest) into the sentimental category (the hardest). But I think I’ve come to terms with it – it’s getting donated.

    I suppose the easiest way to let go of things that no longer serve you is to not get attached in the first place, but it sounds sad and dismissive. So embrace the item while it is serving you, but understand that it’s not your job to give it a forever home after it no longer has a purpose in your life. It wasn’t created to sit and gather dust in your room. It was created to bring joy by fulfilling a purpose and making your job easier.

    And now I have to go through this same process with the handful of bags I’m still holding on to. Wish me luck!

  • [Poetry] Rats

    I’m posting some of my shorter standalone pieces or excerpts on my Instagram account.

    A photo posted by Georgette Tan (@georgettetan) on

  • Saving Yoda the Cat

    Yoda - Before & After

    Yoda is one of those rescue success stories that I’ve had the privilege to observe from Day 1. His progress was updated on my Facebook profile over the months of recovery but I wanted to put the whole story in one place so one of those stupid clickbait sites can steal it, pretend it’s their content, cater to people who don’t know intellectual property even if it walked up to them on the street and slapped them in the face, and reap ad traffic while leaving nothing for the people who did the work and paid the bills. Because the Internet is great like that. Anyway, back to the cat…

     Important note!

    The following entries were copied over from my Facebook page for record. Some of them might be in present tense, but this case is now closed. Yoda found a home and the leftover funds have been donated to a local animal welfare group. I have tried stripping out donation updates without losing too much context or confusing people into thinking it’s a current case. Do not offer to send money. Instead, look into the needs of animal welfare groups or NGOs in your area. Thanks!

    The first image might be slightly disturbing to viewers who can only view animals that are perfect and cute.

    I named the kitten ‘Tripod’ on the first day because we expected him to lose a leg. His new owner renamed him ‘Yoda’.

    This post contains a lot of images.

    (more…)

  • No Spend September 2015 – Week 4

    The hanging wardrobe (May 2015)
    The hanging wardrobe (May 2015)

    Week 4: Sept 22-28, 2015

    Expenditure: RM325.10

    My week’s expenditure was just about average and according to the pattern of my last three weeks, if you ignore the big chunk of unexpected spending due to an incident… proving that you should have money set aside for emergencies. It also makes a more interesting story for this week’s entry because me moaning about being a budgeting failure is getting old. I did groceries. I went out for meals a few times. I treated myself to a coffee twice. I ate all three meals at home today and only spent RM7 on cut fruit and a cup of coffee. I am done with this NSS week.

    Some time in the last 14 days, I got out of bed after a morning nap, went out to bring in the laundry, and came back into my bedroom to find that the wardrobe system (above) has collapsed across my bed, along with my hanging wardrobe. It was fortunate that it did not break anything, my face included.

    Structural collapse
    Structural collapse

    While the arrangement was quite stable in its original position, I was not able to get it back up because at least one part was damaged in the fall and another part may have been the reason why it fell over in the first place. After an hour of trying to restore it to its original state, I found that it remained dangerously wobbly. I gave up, dismantled it and moved it to the storeroom.

    Which left me with a problem of what to do with my clothes. A friend suggested that I bring the laundry rack in, which was a great idea. It gave my clothes a home while giving me time to look for an alternative. I knew that all I needed was a clothing rack, preferably one with wheels. Luck was on my side. The day I had time to pop by Boulevard to raid their IKEA section, they had two clothing racks available. One had wheels. It cost me RM81.90 but it’s mobile, a long-term investment and completely necessary.

    New arrangement
    New arrangement

    It doesn’t look like I have a lot of clothes here but I still feel like I have too much, especially when half of these are special occasion clothes… stuff I only wear a couple of times a year while hoping that people forgot I wore the same thing to the last special occasion.

    The more frequent wear clothes are in the drawers, and it’s become rather apparent that I’m only wearing half of them although I culled many items earlier this year.

    I walked by a shop at CityOne the other day and saw that they had the same line of patch quilt pants that I got in KL and love to bits. Was tempted to get another pair because I wear those as often as I wear my jeans, but I decided to postpone that decision until later.

    Two days left. I’m not planning to immediately go out and buy a boat after this is over, even if October is my birthday month and traditionally I’d treat myself to something major like a holiday. The project continues, and my spending habits warrant some more detailed analysis.

  • No Spend September 2015 – Week 3

    Condiment cupboard. #food #foodporn

    A photo posted by Georgette Tan (@georgettetan) on

    Week 3: Sept 15-21, 2015

    Balance: RM55.10
    Expenditure: RM262.25

    I’ve neglected updating because I was really not in the mood to blog. Now nearly two weeks is over; I have one more day tomorrow before I come to the end of Week 4.

    What can I say about Week 3? To say that I gave up trying to stick to a certain budget would be half true. There didn’t seem to be any point since I failed to budget realistically at the beginning. There’s a slight change to my header – the balance from the original budget is RM55.10, which I fully expect to exceed. The actual expenditure is RM262.25.

    The good news is that I seem to stay between RM200 and RM300, with the amount creeping up steadily to reflect my increasing sense of hopelessness. If you think this is bad, you should see my Week 4 figure. However, something happened this week that I would consider a semi-emergency but fell under ‘Household Items’, which means it counts.

    If anything, at least I’m learning what my spending habits look like when I’m trying to toe the line between saving more than usual and treating myself a little at the same time.

  • No Spend September 2015 – Week 2

    Left&Right
    The view from Left&Right‘s new studio at Kai Joo Lane

    Week 2: Sept 8-14, 2015

    Budget: RM287.80
    Actual: RM232.70

    The last two weeks proved my suspicion correct – a budget of RM510 which included groceries was delusional at best. I know now that I made a bad miscalculation that didn’t include the increased cost of living, GST or the fact that I now live on my own and don’t mooch meals (the bulk of the groceries) from the parents.

    If I analyse the pattern, there are days when I barely spent anything and days when I spent RM100 in one fell swoop. I spent even more this week, and a lot of that was arguably avoidable. Especially that day when I was stressed from work and bought a whole lot of frivolous food stuff. I managed to avoid books or other types of entertainment, but I derive a lot of my creature comforts from food… which is a terrible slide.

    At the same time, I’m also staying in and cooking a lot. I’m using up things I have in the pantry and replacing what I need. I’m keeping track of the best prices of things I regularly need to stock up on. My new favourite supermarket is Unaco Country Side Market; it’s nearby and things are cheaper.

    If I included the figure that is exempted from the project, the numbers are much higher. All my bills came in this week. Being able to see my expenses is quite horrifying because I’ve been spending thoughtlessly for months although I was financially stable earlier this year.

    Wally the budgeting app is not very helpful at this point. I can’t configure it to my project budget and there’s a few steps I have to take to separate the purchases or payments. In the end, I just made sure to keep recording everything I spent money on and calculate it manually at the end of the week.

    I’m not sure how to proceed from here since I have RM55.10 left in the original budget for the rest of the month. Do I top it up with an extra RM200 per remaining week, or do I just do it freestyle?

    I’ll sleep on that.

  • No Spend September 2015 – Week 1

    Photo by Andrea Tan

    Week 1: Sept 1-7, 2015

    Budget: RM119 = RM17/day
    Actual: RM222.20

    Living on RM17/day might have be far too optimistic. I forgot to add GST to the amount. Went waaaay over the weekly budget.

    I decided to go easy on myself the first week. By “going easy”, I was still recording every cent spent and making conscious decisions. To some extent, it is working. This means no overpriced designer coffee just because I was bored, or filling up my fridge with too much fresh produce that isn’t going to get eaten before it rots.

    However, there was still unnecessary purchases. Did I really need a jar of raspberry jam? Not so. Did I need to go for a late afternoon snack, followed by dinner, and ending with dessert? It would be better for my wallet if I didn’t, but these were things I did all the time without thinking of anything beyond instant gratification. Did I really spend nearly RM75 on things I put into my face-hole in one day? Yes. Yes, I did. And most of it was just junk.

    Week 1 on Wally

    In a way, this is good to know. I’m getting that rare big picture of where my money is going and it’s shocking. You’ll never guess what she did next. Your jaw will drop.

    I’m using an iPhone app called Wally to record all my expenses. The figures you see in the image includes expenses that are not counted as part of No Spend Month (ie bills, etc.). I’m still trying out this app and it serves its purpose so far but there’s a slight learning curve that I’m still trying to get around. I’m less patient with learning the little details of apps these days. Instant gratification and all that.

    I’m also keeping track of prices with another app called Grocery Genius, which compares prices of places you’ve shopped. It’s a free version so entries are limited. Anyone got a similar app to recommend? Normally I’d buy the app if I like it but we all stopped looking after the ringgit went past RM4 to USD1.

    On to other discoveries and strategies.

    The 250g bag of Colombian Arabica at RM28 saved me from getting coffee outside, although spending that money all at once was slightly cringe-y. I found earlier this month that my Starbucks card has a balance of RM0.30. I decided not to top it up. This was another one of my regular cash drains.

    Eating a little bit healthier and cooking more. On stocking up the groceries, it’s better to err on less than get too much. I tend to stock up on stuff with a longer shelf life, so instead of getting more stuff, I’m working through what’s in the pantry. Started the morning lemon water habit because I’ve been wanting to try it out.

    My plan for the coming week is to plan the social outings better, pack meals and snacks from home, get more fruits, and sell more books from my library.

  • No Spend September 2015

    The state of my bank account, if I don’t do something about it now.

    Now seems like a good time to kick off No Spend Month, after a long hiatus from the blog and an even longer hiatus from the project. I guess I was pretty comfortable financially after my first attempt in 2010. I found something that worked and saw my savings crawl upwards. But it’s a new life now and the old methods don’t work any more.

    I looked at my bank accounts a month ago and realised that not only do I own my credit card RM2,000, but my money was draining out. I moved to my own place in February and taken on adult responsibilities such as paying rent and utilities. But I was spending as freely as I always was, even more so when I get excited about adding a new item to the house.

    No Spend Month was inspired by Small Notebook, a blog I used to follow. The premise is no spending except on basic essentials for one month. It was helpful in getting me on track before and I know I can do this again.

    Here are the details (which applies to both me and the dog):

    Budget

    • RM510 / RM17 per day

    Includes

    • Eating out
    • Entertainment
    • Clothes
    • Groceries
    • Household items

    Does not include

    • Rent, bills & insurance
    • Work expenses, including petrol
    • Health expenses
    • Savings

    So that I can see where my money is going, I will be recording every single sen that leaves my wallet whether or not they are included or not included in this project.

    The pantry is fairly well stocked, including good coffee and far too much junk food, so I don’t really have an excuse to eat out. My Starbucks card also happened to be empty – haha! Entertainment-wise, I have plenty of books to read, a few TV series and movies that I have not watched. Hanging out with friends is going to have to get pretty creative since I don’t have the budget for over-priced food.

    I’m already two days in. Not only am I hyper-aware of what I’m using my money for, but my determination carried over into time management. So I’m getting shit done. Good news.

    Since I didn’t get to do groceries before September, I already spent a chunk of my budget. But that will be detailed in my report at the end of this week.

  • The BillionGraves Project

    St Joseph's Cemetery
    A poorly stitched panorama of St Joseph’s Cemetery from the furthest point in the back.

    For a long time, I’ve had a fascination with graveyards and have visited a few around Kuching, wondering about the people buried there and what their stories were. Old graveyards like St Joseph’s Cemetery or the small graveyard on the grounds of St Thomas’s Cathedral date back to the days of the Brooke administration, with Europeans interred here in Kuching. And old headstones tend to be far more interesting than the standard marble slabs that are common today. Back in those graveyard-exploring days, I took photos and wondered if there was a way to properly document our graveyards.

    Late last year, I learned about BillionGraves through their partnership with Geni. I got pretty excited after I read what BG is and what sets them apart from other graveyard record websites. This is what it says on their ‘About Us’ page:

    Our goal is to preserve precious records found in cemeteries throughout the world. We use modern technology to capture images of headstones with their GPS locations so users worldwide can access those records anywhere. BillionGraves strives to do just that: preserve at least one billion graves. And we won’t stop there!

    The BG app (currently available for iPhone and Android devices) records the GPS location of the photos you snap. This is automatically attached to the records and shows up on the website when you upload the image. The app lets you transcribe the information on the headstone if you prefer to do it yourself. Otherwise, it gets uploaded and joins the database of photos waiting to be transcribed. Any member can transcribe, but sometimes you run into problems… which I will get into later.

    Once uploaded and transcribed, the record looks something like this: Brother Albinus O’Flaherty

    Bro Albinus was my very first photo and record. Notice the cool feature of pinning the location of his grave on a map, which cuts down the search considerably for anyone who is looking for it. For people who want to see the grave but are unable to visit it personally, there are photos to show what it looks like.

    To my knowledge, I’m the only active BG member in Kuching… although I got my riding buddy Cyn to give me a hand with the WWII Heroes Grave this one time:

    Cyn shoots
    How low we stoop to get a good photo.

    If anyone from the Sarawak Tourism Federation or DBKU is reading this, we did some weeding on every grave so we could photograph the full stone. You’re welcome.

    How you can help

    Scary enough for you?
    Scary enough for you?

    1. Oh, Shoot!
    Obviously one way you can help a great deal is to download the app, pick your favourite local cemetery (preferably one that I haven’t done yet) and start shooting. Get in touch with me if you are interested. If we can coordinate our efforts and agree on a standard to follow, we can cover a lot more ground together.

    2. Transcribe
    Now I know there are people out there who are intrigued by the idea but feel that graveyards are scary places and are not ready to brave the heat and mosquitoes. You can help from the comfort of home by transcribing records that are already online. I’m especially keen to get those of you from Malaysia and Singapore to participate. Why? Because the non-Asians mess up the names when transcribing headstones.

    Here’s an example: The following is my full name. Which is my surname? -> Georgette Tan Thien Gin

    If you said ‘Gin’, you probably don’t live in this region and don’t understand our name formats. If you said ‘Tan’, you probably understand why I’m ripping my hair out when I see what some members did to our local records. I also spotted this kind of error on existing Singaporean records, both on BG and on other cemetery record sites. They might not know what an ‘ak/anak’ or ‘a/l’ or ‘a/p’ means in a name. This is why I need your help. You can start right now.

    I also need people who read Mandarin, Japanese and are familiar with the terms that might appear on a Muslim headstone (I’ve not visited a Muslim graveyard yet). There are also stones with Mandarin or Japanese characters coming in from other parts of the world, and there might not be enough people with the language skills to help.

    3. Details, Details
    Some of the people buried here (ie Bro Albinus or Kanang Langkau) are well-documented on publicly available  records. It would lend the BG records some additional value if these documents are linked or included.

    Tips and Hazards

    If you plan on visiting a graveyard to start shooting, here are some things I’ve already experienced or researched on:

    1. Your Grave-Tripping Essentials

    • iPhone/Android phone with the app downloaded, signed in and configured to your preference. If possible, add the cemetery to the site before you go, or at least know the name of the place so you can add it when you’re there.
    • sunscreen / hat / umbrella
    • mosquito repellent
    • covered shoes and long pants
    • pen and notepad, in case the stone might be too faded for the camera to pick up but the inscription is visible to the eye
    • a friend or two, for extra hands and general safety reasons

    2. Faded headstones

    There are several methods which you can read up about here. I have not dealt with faded headstones yet because it will be extra work and I usually go alone. If you get to have a go at it first, make sure not to damage anything.

    3. General Safety

    Our graveyards are not very well maintained. Expect tall grass, lots of mosquitoes, barely any walking space between graves, and things like this:

    Yes, those were my footprints.
    Yes, those were my footprints.

    The front of some graves will show signs of visitors – candles. These candles will be left to burn and run down, mixing with dirt and creating a waxy muck that your shoes will sink into, get stuck in and is just slippery enough to make you lose your balance. I don’t like falling down. You won’t want to fall down in a place where lots of stone and marble are packed closely together. Or near something like this:

    Lots of things to discover at your nearest graveyard. What are you waiting for? Let’s get graving.



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